


Family Dinner

by sartiebodyshots



Series: December Prompts [8]
Category: Mass Effect
Genre: Gen, Post-Game(s)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-08
Updated: 2016-12-08
Packaged: 2018-09-07 06:44:07
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 643
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8787709
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sartiebodyshots/pseuds/sartiebodyshots
Summary: Shepard demands that the crew gets together every few years.





	

**Author's Note:**

> Written for a December prompts challenge! Happy Holidays!

Shepard makes the Normandy crew get together every few years, after the end of the Reaper War.  It’s hard sometimes- they’re all incredibly busy people, after all- but Shepard insists.  As much as she loves her mother and surviving siblings, the time spent on the Normandy changed all of them and left them with a bond no one else could understand.

At first it takes place on the Citadel, usually, but eventually Shepard and Liara get a ship for themselves, and everyone gathers there, no matter how remote they usually are.

(“I can’t make it!” Jack had said one year.  “There’s not a lot of transports out here!”  Shepard had landed her ship beside the new Grissom Academy and everyone had hung out on the grounds.)

The best part of the get together, in Shepard’s opinion, is when they all sit down to eat.  Wrex and Grunt haul the heavy metal tables into some semblance of a straight line, so everyone can sit at one table, while the rest of the crew cook or supervise cooking, careful to keep the dextro and levo food separate.  It takes well over a day to get everything prepared for so many people, but it’s worth it.  

Fifteen years after the end of the war, Shepard sits at the head of the table, just the same as she always has, looking around at the people who filled her life with so much joy.  They’re all looking at her expectantly, all looking much older than they do in her memories.

Her eyes pause over the empty chairs, the spots set for Mordin and Thane and Kaidan and Legion and Captain Anderson and Navigator Pressly.  Good people who died so they could be here today.  She misses them, and the first toast of the night is always in their honor.

Liara sits beside her, hand in hers as they look out over their friends.  Grunt sits beside Liara, with Joker on Shepard’s other side.  Garrus and Tali sit beside him, married at long last.  They sit across from EDI and Samantha- certainly not a couple that Shepard had seen coming, but one she welcomes nonetheless.

“Sorry, Skipper,” Ashley says, sprinting into the mess hall.  “Didn’t mean to be late!”

“Hah!” Wrex says.  “I was about to eat your share!”

“Not on your life, Wrex,” Ashley says, elbowing him as she settles into her seat.  

Wrex laughs.  “We can arm wrestle for it.”

“Maybe not at the table, guys,” Steve interjects.

“In my cycle, there was never enough food, so we always had to arm wrestle for it,” Javik says.  

James laughs.  “You’re making that one up!”

“He’s always making them up,” Kasumi adds.  

The room dissolves into chatter as they pile their plates high with food.  Shepard listens as people talk about their spouses and children.  Jacob’s daughter has just started dating; Miranda is the best aunt to Oriana’s children; EDI and Samantha have adopted a young daughter.  Liara also beams with pride as she mentions her and Shepard’s daughters.  

Once the food is done, all the dishes are piled onto the counter and into the dishwasher.  It hums under the sound of everyone talking; it'll take several loads to get every dish clean.  Everyone takes a turn unloading and reloading except Shepard.

She makes sure to talk to everyone, making sure to ask after children and to arrange a next time to meet.  While she’s a private citizen now, the last thing she wants to do is fall out of contact with any of her friends.  

It’s a long, exhausting day, and most of the old crew doesn’t leave when it’s over.  There’s plenty of room for everyone to take a bunk.

Late that night, Shepard sits outside the room and listens to the comforting sounds of everyone babbling to each other.  It’s good to be with family.  


End file.
